Do ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google recommend the same business? Almost never.
We queried four AI engines across four Vienna industries. Across around 110 recommended businesses, all four agreed on only a handful. This is the first edition of the KIGEO AI Visibility Index.
🇩🇪 Diese Ausgabe auf Deutsch lesenMore and more people no longer ask Google, they ask an AI: “Which business is good?” But which AI? We wanted to know whether the four big engines recommend the same businesses or entirely different ones. So we brought our four Vienna industry studies together into one index.
Across four industries and around 110 recommended businesses, all four AIs named only a handful in common. In two of four industries, it was not a single one.
The one number: the overlap
The core question of the index is simple: How often do all four AIs name the same business? The rarer that happens, the more your visibility depends on which AI your customer happens to ask. In Edition 1, the answer is soberingly low.
| Industry | Named by the AIs | Named by all four |
|---|---|---|
| Restaurants | 31 | 1 |
| Tax advisors | 30+ | 0 |
| Vets | 16 | 0 |
| Real estate agents (6 districts) | ~34 | 3 of 6 districts |
For real estate agents we measured per district: in 3 of the 6 districts there was one firm that all four AIs named, in the others none. For restaurants, tax advisors and vets we asked city-wide.
There is no business that AI recommends consistently. Whoever leads in ChatGPT can be missing entirely from Perplexity.
Why do they disagree so much?
Because each AI reads from a different source. That was the same pattern across all four studies:
- ChatGPT and Google mainly read Google Maps and reviews. Their lists resemble each other and favor firms with lots of stars.
- Perplexity reads almost exclusively business directories (WKO, Herold, ImmoScout, FirmenABC) and therefore often names completely different names.
- Gemini shows Google Maps pins with stars and leans toward award-winning firms.
The logic is simple: no source, no mention. A firm that is missing from an engine's sources will not be recommended by that engine, no matter how good the business is. This matches larger studies: ChatGPT names, overall, only around 1 in 100 local businesses at all1, and the engines pull their recommendations from almost entirely different sources2.
The four industries in detail
Restaurants. 31 venues named, only one recommended by all four. The AIs sent guests into four almost separate dining worlds. To the study →
Tax advisors. Over 30 firms, not a single one in all four. The AIs split clearly into two camps, depending on whether they read reviews or directories. To the study →
Vets. 16 practices, none in all four, and roughly one in four recommendations had a defect (wrong address, dead website, confused practice). Here it was also about accuracy, not just visibility. To the study →
Real estate agents. Six districts, six completely different lists. Wherever a firm won everywhere, it always had both: lots of fresh reviews and clean directory listings. To the study →
What this means for businesses
- Visibility differs per AI. A strong Google profile gets you into ChatGPT, Google and Gemini. For Perplexity you need the directories. A single channel is not enough.
- The winners share one recipe: lots of fresh reviews and clean, consistent entries in the directories the AIs read from.
- Accuracy counts. The AI can name you and still output wrong details. That has to be right too.
That is exactly what Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) takes care of: making sure you get named in every relevant AI, in the right area and with correct details.
Does AI recommend your business?
We check for free whether ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini & Google name you in Vienna, and show who gets recommended instead.
free AI visibility check →Methodology & sources
Edition 1 brings together four already published individual studies; the raw data of each study is available there as CSV. These are samples, not full censuses; AI answers fluctuate. Studies used for context:
- SOCi, Local Visibility Index 2026, context: across hundreds of thousands of locations, ChatGPT names only around 1.2 percent of local businesses in a recommendation (US dataset, indicative).
- NeuRank, AI Visibility Study 2026, context: ChatGPT bases around 38 percent of its local recommendations on Google Maps, while Perplexity cites almost exclusively German-language directories (German market).